Historic Downtown Office Building Acquired for Mixed-Use Conversion

The Chemical Building was designed by architect Henry Ives Cobb in 1896 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. It sits next door to the historic 224,000-sf U.S. Custom House and Post Office, which recently underwent a $77-million renovation.Heisman principal Curt Schroeder tells GlobeSt.com his company paid between $6 million and $7 million for the 17-story Chemical Building and will invest an additional $16.5 million in the building's transformation.

Renovations are set to get under way by mid-year and take 12 months to complete. The basement will become parking, the first two floors will become retail, and the top four or five floors will be luxury condominiums. In between will be a mix of office and apartment units, with the exact mix determined by how much demand there is for office, says Schroeder. Historic Tax Credits will help fund the project.

Heisman Properties partners Schroeder and Rob McRitchie entered the St. Louis market in 2004 when they purchased the nearby A.D. Brown building and converted it into loft condominiums known as The Meridian. That 10-story building now houses 98 loft condominiums and five two-story penthouse units. Expected for completion this June, 80% of the units have been sold at per sf rates in the $200- to $220 per sf range.

"We expect continuing change in demographics and lifestyle preferences and ever increasing commute times to continue to drive a significant portion of the population to choose an urban lifestyle," says Heisman VP Chad Forrest.

The for-sale units in the Chemical Building will total about three dozen and average about 1,200 sf. The expected sale price will be at or above that of Heisman's Meridian project. The apartment units will average about 1,000 sf and rent for around $1.10 per sf per month. Information was not immediately available for the office portion of the project.